They were ruthless with the bat, canny with the ball and energetic in the field to the delight of an exuberant crowd on a damp and chilly evening in Birmingham.

When Buttler joined Kieswetter, England were 64-3 with only 16 balls remaining, but a brutal display of power hitting from the Somerset pair transformed the complexion of the innings.

Kieswetter, reprieved by a missed stumping by AB de Villiers on 31, lit the fuse by smashing spinner Johan Botha back over his head for six.

Buttler, who had scored just 36 runs in 10 international Twenty20s before this game, served notice of his talent with an incredible assault, hitting Parnell for two straight sixes and twice scooping the ball over his shoulder for four.

Two no-balls, another six over midwicket and a pair of twos rounded off the second most expensive over in Twenty20 international history, behind Yuvraj Singh's six sixes off Broad in the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007.

Kieswetter and Jonny Bairstow both fell to Morne Morkel in the last over, but England still managed to pick up 12 runs from it to post a total that would not be far off a competitive 20-over score.

South Africa's innings followed a similar trajectory to England's but lacked the catalyst provided by Buttler's brilliant cameo.

After Richard Levi, Faf du Plessis and De Villiers fell in single figures, Hashim Amla took up the chase with six fours.

But when he was caught at deep midwicket by Bairstow for 36 to give Graeme Swann his second wicket, South Africa needed 65 runs off 24 balls.

Despite some lusty late blows from Albie Morkel and Justin Ontong, South Africa fell well short.

Like Swann, Tim Bresnan finished with two wickets, Hampshire spinner Danny Briggs took one on his Twenty20 international debut and Jade Dernbach gave up just 14 runs from his two-over spell.

England fly to Sri Lanka on Thursday and will play warm-up matches against Pakistan and Australia before their first group game against Afghanistan on 21 September.

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Comments

All through the IPL season TV commentators of all nationalities were describing games won by more than 25 runs, or with more than one over to spare as thrashings. And that was based on games lasting 20 overs per side, not 11. You cannot judge t20 winning margins by the same criteria as test matches or 50 over games. England won by 28 runs after just 66 balls per side - more than 2.5 runs per over.

@51 Yes they were 'thrashings' too (the Test by a record margin). So what? Also, in an 11-over game under floodlights after rain you'd expect a high relative extras score: after all Mr. Extras gets to bat all the way through, not just 10 balls like Mr. Buttler :)

"And if you play a 1 Over game and you score 500% times more than your opponent ???"

1 over doesn't constitute a game; 11 does. Don't make facile arguments to try to prove a point, it makes you look foolish. You also clearly don't know what "context" means. In the context of a 1 over game 500% is not a thrashing. In that of an 11 over game it is. Scoring at 1.5 rpo more than SA is a thrashing.

A win by 28 runs a thrashing?? when your 3rd highest score was extras? If this is a thrashing, how would you describe your 7 wicket defeat earlier, and better still, the result of the first test. Now THAT was a thrashing.

I agree with #45 but floodlit evening sessions are the way to go for the county game. Part of the reason so many people do go to t20 is because they can without taking the day off work. People make an effort for the festivals as well because not every supporter can get to their county ground.Oh dear, I'm rambling now so I'll shut up.

t20 was hit and giggle. But when you see players like Amla take t20 into one dayers to hit 150 off 120 balls, you must surely see how it has changed the game for the better. 180-220 used to be par scores in one dayers. Test matches would have about 220 runs in a full day's play.

And apart from all that, if they get the pricing right, it will get county cricket healthy, with new young fans

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